Saturday, January 28, 2012

A scheduling error on my part resulted in no priest being present for the 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Jan. 15.

No excuse is being offered because there is no reason for this to happen except as an error. Having a priest available for Sunday liturgy is of utmost importance. However, especially since I am here alone, it is important to realize that an emergency, last minute sickness, or a priest "not showing up" could result in this happening again.

It raises a few important questions for us. Although some have been prepared to celebrate a communion service in the absence of a priest, there may be some reluctance or lack of confidence to do so. Some additional training and preparation is needed. Further, we should all notice that there is an increasing lack of priests in our archdiocese and this may happen more often than any of us would like. Hopefully, we will all give the benefit of the doubt and presume that no malice was intended. Hopefully, we will appreciate when it does occur that to be blessed to hear the word and receive communion is the most important thing and will hopefully always be available.

Finally, this should make us all more aware of the need to encourage vocations and to invite especially our young people to consider a vocation to priesthood, religious life, or deaconate.

Father Perry D. Leiker is St. Bernard parish administrator. Reach him at (323) 255-6142, Ext. 112.

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